Jewelry sale set to help feed those in need at Community Kitchen

Community Kitchen will begin to serve breakfast on weekdays in December

By Shelley Widhalm Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
11/18/2013 08:37:18 PM MST

Barbara Murray, left, creates a piece of jewelry as Anna Gutierrez, right, manager and buyer for Cloz to Home, looks at necklaces Monday at Murray's home. Murray is donating her handmade jewelry for a two-day show at Cloz to Home this weekend as a fundraiser for Loveland's Community Kitchen.
(Jenny Sparks)

A Loveland jewelry artist wants to donate what she earns from a weekend jewelry sale to Loveland's Community Kitchen -- just in time for the nonprofit's addition of a breakfast service.

Barbara Murray of the Loveland area will sell her handmade jewelry Saturday and Sunday at Cloz to Home, 120 E. Fourth St., and donate what the pieces sell for, including her own costs, to Loveland's Community Kitchen, 437 N. Garfield Ave. She hopes to raise $10,000, she said.

"It's all one-of-a-kind pieces and custom made," said Anna Gutierrez, manager of Cloz to Home. "She just makes a big variety."

Her pieces include gemstones, crystals, pearls and beads and range in style and price, Murray said.

Murray will give a piece of elephant jewelry, which she's collected from all over the world, to those who purchase $100 or more in jewelry. The elephant is a symbol of good luck, wisdom and blessings, she said.

"It's my gift to them," Murray said.

Murray has 250 pieces of jewelry with elephants on them from hand-carved gemstones to metal, she said.

After retiring, Murray decided to make her jewelry to raise funds for different charities as a philanthropic project. She does her work in the kitchen and wants to donate to the larger Community Kitchen, which serves lunch daily to the homeless and those in need of a meal or company.

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Starting Monday, Dec. 2, the Community Kitchen will serve a continental breakfast 7:15-8:15 a.m. Monday to Friday. The service will be offered for four months as a trial in response to a three-day survey last summer asking clients about their needs.

"We do need more volunteers," said LuAnn Ball, director of the Community Kitchen, about the breakfast service.

Three volunteers will be needed to work during breakfast, Ball said.

"We wanted to give it a try because a lot of these folks go to work, or go to line up for work ... without breakfast," she said.